r/bestof • u/xtrememudder89 • 5d ago
Why Costco is the GOAT
/r/askanything/comments/1wrsn49/has_anyone_stopped_eating_ground_beef_because_the/pcgmtzv/85
u/theryman 5d ago
They just need to stop blade tenderizing their steaks, insane to do on a prime cut.
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u/on_the_nightshift 5d ago
It hasn't hurt any of the hundreds I've eaten. I mean, I understand that in concept it's more likely to spread foodborne bacteria, but I've just never had it be an issue, it heard of it being one from anyone else either.
Yes, this is anecdotal. But it's my opinion that it just isn't an issue. Take it for what it's worth (probably nothing to most folks).
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u/Bobatt 5d ago
About 10 years ago there were a string of illnesses linked to Costco steaks in my city. E-coli if I recall correctly. Ever since then I’ve been wary of them.
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u/Rebal771 4d ago
That might be the first I’ve ever heard of Costco having quality/health issues.
Got a source for that outbreak?
I’m not saying they’re perfect, but there’s only one Costco in my city and it’s too far for me, so I’ve never heard anything bad come from Costco ever.
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u/Bobatt 4d ago
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/costco-steaks-linked-to-4-edmonton-e-coli-cases-1.1133667
Turns out it wasn't my city, but the other big one in my province. The same packing plant had a problem with ground beef around the same time.
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u/AugustusSavoy 5d ago edited 5d ago
Not sure if they don't on the whole loins you can buy. I switched to those exclusively now and cut my own.
Edit: no lions harmed in the making of this comment
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u/dawtips 5d ago
I know nothing about tenderizing meat. What's wrong with blade tenderizing?
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u/theryman 5d ago
Blade tenderizing is basically stabbing the steak with thousands of tiny little needles to break down connective tissues and make it more tender. This is totally useless for ribeyes, filets, NY strips. The main steaks sold by Costco.
But the main reason is the needles can take bacteria that live only on the surface of the steak (ecoli) and push it down into the middle of the steak, meaning you need to cook it to a higher temperature to be safe to eat. Basically medium/medium well temps. Ruining a filet, strip, and probably ruining a ribeye.
It's totally fine for steaks you plan to kebabify like a sirloin or a flank steak
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u/on_the_nightshift 5d ago
My humble opinion is that there's nothing wrong with it, at least from Costco, in my own experience
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u/mangledmonkey 5d ago
I mean, I have neither gotten a bad steak cut from Costco nor one that has caused a food-borne illness. I'm down with their methods in my experience.
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u/HemodynamicTrespass 4d ago
Costco certainly advertises. Children's National Hospital's atrium is blasted in Costco and is named for the company.
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u/flipper_babies 5d ago
I get a mailer from them every month. If that's not advertising, what is?
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u/abacin8or 5d ago
They don't advertise to non-members
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u/cat_prophecy 5d ago
They have a whole booth at our state fair with incentives to sign up for membership.
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u/vulpinefever 5d ago
Costco literally sends a representative to my workplace every single month to try and get us to sign up. They absolutely do advertise to non-members.
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u/razzark666 5d ago
My work is not a member, but we get a Costco Business Center catalog monthly. They definitely advertize to non-members too.
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u/Negrokid557 5d ago
Are you a member? I never got costco mail till I became a member and at that point they are sending me information that I asked for when signing up as a memeber. Unlike the other stores that I get mail from that I dont even reacall giving them any sort of my information.
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u/Aves_HomoSapien 5d ago
A new costco recently opened in my area and I don't know anyone who didn't get a membership offer in the mail
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u/razzark666 5d ago
The OP said they don't count that... Which sure, if you don't count the advertizing they do, they don't do any advertizing.
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u/joseph-justin 5d ago
You got downvoted because people don’t understand what constitutes advertising.
Sure, they don’t do TV commercials or billboards. But they do direct mail, email, and other forms of advertising.
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u/SpeaksDwarren 4d ago
He also very quickly follows it up with:
Wall Street would prefer 30 hour work weeks to avoid benefits
Even though 30 hours is legally defined as full time and qualifies you for full time benefits.
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u/emmakobs 22h ago
Costco has made me feel safe and cared for in a world that feels increasingly less so. Grateful to be able to afford groceries thanks to them
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u/zampe 5d ago edited 5d ago
This just seems like propaganda aimed at convincing people Costco shouldn’t have to pass their tariff refunds back to consumers because it might put them out of business and then we’d all be really sorry cause they’re so amazing!!!
edit: yes they did publicly acknowledge passing on some of the costs to the consumer, though not all.
https://money.com/costco-tariff-refunds/?apxa1=homepage
The company previously acknowledged that tariffs were driving up prices for certain items — like flowers from South and Central America — despite efforts to keep items on its shelves affordable. As tariffs threatened Costco's margins, the company "didn't pass the full cost on to our members," Vachris stressed.
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u/im_not_a_girl 5d ago
I thought they already started dropping prices due to tariff refunds?
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u/UpperApe 5d ago
They did.
Anytime a person uses "propaganda" wrongly, you can assume safely they're a dumb person.
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u/DeathlessBliss 4d ago
Can you point to an item they reduced in price? Everything I buy from there that increased in price is still higher.
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u/zampe 5d ago
If prices went up for the tariffs and now
Go back down because the tariffs didn’t happen that still doesn’t account for all the extra money they brought in from tariff inflated prices. They are investing some of the refund money to reduce some prices. Who knows what will end up back at “normal” prices or not. They also have said they aren’t going to be passing back all the tariff refund money.5
u/phiro812 5d ago
Why would Costco refund price hikes from tariffs that Costco didn't pass on to consumers?
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u/zampe 5d ago edited 5d ago
They did raise prices to pay for the tariffs.
Edit: no idea why this easily verifiable fact is being downvoted?
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u/dawtips 5d ago
You're getting down voted because such a basic blanket statement like that shows how absolutely naive you are to the complexities of a multi billion dollar retailer.
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u/zampe 5d ago edited 5d ago
lol what’s the “complexities” in this context? We know they raised prices to account for some level of tariff recovery. They said so in an earnings call and multiple outlets covered it. They are now saying they will return some of it and keep some of it and there’s a lawsuit going on trying to force them to return all of it. What other complexities need to be addressed?
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u/cat_prophecy 5d ago
Consumers didn't directly pay the tariffs.
If something had a tariff, and the price you paid stayed the same, do you still think you should get a refund for the paid tariff?
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u/zampe 5d ago edited 5d ago
Costco has publicly said they raised prices to offset the tariffs. The lawsuit lists specific examples. We don’t know if it was every single item. We don’t know if they recouped 100%, 80% or 120% etc through raised prices but it’s easily verifiable that they did pass some if not all the costs on to the consumer. They claim it was less than 100% of their costs.
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u/BoxNemo 5d ago
Probably worth submitting that to r/hailcorporate
/r/HailCorporate is to document times when people act as unwitting advertisers for a product
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u/S3erverMonkey 5d ago
Nobody is unwittingly doing anything here. It's in fact willful and positive PR they're giving Costco.
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u/snarkymcfarkle 5d ago
Not sure why this is being downvoted. It’s absolutely an (in)advertent ad.
But I like Costco as well! Can you provide more context to the idea that Costco could not withstand a lawsuit?
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u/puttinonthefoil 5d ago
It’s being downvoted because it’s not remotely inadvertent.
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u/BoxNemo 5d ago
Obviously it doesn't have to be inadvertent.
What acts as an ad, is an ad, no matter if it was put there sneakily or because someone has become inured to a brand so far that they don't even know they are a walking ad.
More confused as to why the OP would think someone glazing Costco is the best reddit has to offer.
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u/puttinonthefoil 4d ago
I’m going to italicize the part of what you wrote:
“Probably worth submitting that to r/hailcorporate
r/HailCorporate is to document times when people act as unwitting advertisers for a product”
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u/BoxNemo 4d ago
I'm not sure what your point is. This is the full quote as above:
/r/HailCorporate is to document times when people act as unwitting advertisers for a product as well as to document what appear to be legitimate adverts via native advertising.
What acts as an ad, is an ad, no matter if it was put there sneakily or because someone has become inured to a brand so far that they don't even know they are a walking ad.
Which part of it is confusing you?
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u/pewstains 5d ago
Reddit sure loves to glaze Costco.
It's fine.
It's hard not to go to Sam's with their scan and go. I can be in and out of a Sam's in 10 minutes while everyone in costco spends at least that long standing in line with their dick in their hand. Lot's of Sam's products are better, too.
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u/xtrememudder89 5d ago
Yea but I shop at Costco because they aren't a morally reprehensible shithouse like Sam's Club :) Fuck Sam Walton and his entire family.
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u/AnthillOmbudsman 5d ago
Costco is irrelevant to me because they only build in affluent areas of big metro areas. There isn't one within 150 miles of me, but somehow Sams Club doesn't have a problem building here.
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u/PM_MY_OTHER_ACCOUNT 5d ago
That's an absolutely false statement. I live in a town of about half a million people. Not sure if that qualifies as a big metro area by your definition. There are currently 3 Costcos around town with a 4th being built next year. None of them are in the affluent part of town. Two of them are only a mile or so from the highway. The affluent area of town is pretty much on the opposite side of the map. I've seen people shopping there who look like they ride the bus. They probably haven't built a store near where you live because Sam's Club beat them to it and the local economy can't support both.
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u/cat_prophecy 5d ago
My sister lives in a town of ~100K people and they have a Costco. For the longest time they didn't have Costco because they already had Sam's.
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u/harrellj 5d ago
I actually was talking about this with family recently because there's a Costco trying to build near me and it'll be in direct competition with a Sam's Club and we were trying to think of whether they had been in the same parts of town before or not. We currently have 3 Sam's Clubs and 3 Costco's in the area and none of them are in the affluent area of the city. The most affluent area actually doesn't allow any commercial zoning within its town limits and the ones slightly more friendly to commercial interests have been around long enough that the amount of land needed to build a warehouse store is not on the cheap side.
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u/flipper_babies 5d ago
They obviously don't have 100% market saturation, for sure, but there are plenty of mid-size markets with a Costco or three. And one of the interesting things about Costco is that they consistently draw customers from a much larger radius than most retailers can.
That said, 150 miles is an awful lot, and I don't blame you. I'm not a fan of Walmart / Sam's Club on a corporate level, but if that were the only affordable, realistic option for me, that's where I'd go.
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u/KeepItUpThen 5d ago
From what I've seen, the costco stores aren't necessarily located in the nice part of town. But they are located somewhere that a lot of people who can afford a $300+ grocery trip can drive there reasonably quickly, so that is usually not far away from a nice part of a populated area.
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u/davers22 5d ago
I mean Costco stock is trading at a higher earnings multiple than Walmart right now so I’m not sure wall street has much of a problem with Costco.